Posted on 06/27/2009 8:08:48 AM PDT by DogBarkTree
The Hate Crimes Prevention Act HR 1966 which has passed the Congress by overwhelming margins is now facing hearings in the Senate. There are already similar hate crime laws in place, however, this bill imposes much stronger federal enforcement, which is a clear violation of the Tenth Amendment. It grants greater power to federal prosecutors to prosecute hate crime laws by prosecuting those who have been found innocent by local or state courts. The current bill will extend special privileges to gays and transgender individuals that are currently only granted to ethnic and religious minorities. The most dangerous part of the Bill which is a direct assault against the First Amendment is that it allows for the prosecution as accomplices in a hate crime for talk show pundits that the person who commits the alleged crime claims to influence their actions.
Here is the essential text:
Whoever transmits in interstate or foreign commerce [radio, TV, internet] any communication, with the intent to coerce, intimidate, harass, or cause substantial emotional distress to a person, using electronic means to support severe, repeated, and hostile behavior, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both. (HR 1966, SEC 3, Sec. 881a)
One day in the near future we are all going to have to go underground and communicate by other means.
I keep my comments very restrained. It builds up but I have to keep in mind that Big Sis is watching.
I’ve been thinking that too.
It has?
Then why the hearings in the Senate?
So if Rush harasses obama on his radio show, can Rush be prosecuted under this law?
Vewwy Skewwy.
Could not a fellow traveling judge interpret Free Republic free speech as doing precisely the above if someone chooses to fake "emotional distress"?
I'd like the Supremes to opine on this.
.
“I keep my comments very restrained.”
Well, I don’t. Hey, Big Sis. All those weapons and ammo that were purchased over the past year or so? They’re getting real close to being employed.
Bump for the “trigger event”.
It is sad for me but I am afraid of our government.
Twitter by proxy?
:(
So if a talk show host could be prosecuted for declaring,on the air,that “all illegal Mexicans should be expelled from this country” one would think that I,too,could be prosecuted for making such a statement here on FR.
DC is becoming Tehran
Thomas Jefferson: When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.
Myself, I’m looking for throw-away internet capable phones to come on the market...
All it takes is to have a liberal to commit a crime against a black American and then claim he listened to Rush Limbaugh.
At that point, Rush would be put in prison for two years.
And for those who cower, I say, let’s bring this on sooner rather than later. If you give this commie regime eight years to reinforce and bolster their numbers and their forces, the task will be much tougher. So let’s get it going now. We win this thing now.
No annonymity there. The phone will have its own IP that will be registered by the phone company for every call you make.
It is no different than sending an email that can be traced right back to the originating computer.
This is the greatest attack on the First Amendment since the Alien and Sedition Acts.
Almost nobody in the media is covering it.
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